The BEST Christmas present EVER!!

As most of your know Christmas is by far my favorite season of the year.  The family time, the giving, the receiving (yea that means presents), the songs, the lights, the tree, the games, the movies, the snowboarding, the cookies, the cinnamon rolls, the candy canes, etc.  (etc actually just means more food items.. hehe).  But as the Christmas season approached most of these things were not on the ship, or if they were it just wasn’t the same.  Maybe I was being a bit Scrooge-ish but all of these things made me sit and think, “What does Christmas mean to me?”

Christmas is when we all get to come together to celebrate the birth of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.  But do I really think that way or is it more about the list I stated above.

Ugh.  Once again God showed me that MAYBE my thinking was a bit off.  So I decided to take some time to really look into the reason for the season.  I started looking through the Old Testament at the many, MANY references that prophesize the coming of our Messiah.  Isaiah, Hosea, Micah, Psalms; the list goes on and I was amazed at all the texts that point to Jesus.  Virgin birth, government on his shoulders, from Bethlehem, the kings will worship, nations will serve him, ruler over Israel.  I know, I know, you have probably heard these things 100x’s BUT it was so reassuring to look at these passages and to see how God had this all planned out from the beginning of time.

I started reading over the gospels at the telling of Jesus’ birth.  God’s son, born to a virgin, in a random stable, and laid in a manger.  Talk about humble beginnings.  Why would God do that? Why wouldn’t he send his Son to this earth in a more powerful and amazing way? Or did He?

Think about it. Think about how amazing and powerful it is that God sent his only Son, the creator of the earth, to live here on earth as an average guy.  Now lets say he had come down as an earthly king, how could we possibly relate to Him? The story continues, not only did he come down to this sinful world He also lived in it.  He actually dealt with all the temptations this world has to offer yet didn’t sin.   So Jesus came and lived as an example to follow and left us an instruction manual to read (Bible) to show us how to live.  Then he goes out spreading the good news only to find that many despise him and want to kill him, sometimes even family and friends.  How bout that? Jesus comes down from heaven to save his precious children (the one’s he formed in the womb) and instead they threaten to kill him.  Ouch!  Yet not only did Jesus come into this world to be an example for us to follow he came to save us from sin by dying on the cross.  Jesus knew he would be able to deal with whatever our sinful world threw at Him because He would conquer sin once and for all and then we seated at the right hand of his father.  All Jesus asks of us is to believe. We don’t have to reach a certain mark, we don’t have to do so many good deeds, all we have to do is believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he died for us. 

For the past few weeks I had been praying that God would comfort me and give me peace during this Christmas season since I wouldn’t be with my family and friends.   And He did. 

What does Christmas mean to me?  It means that I am loved because my Father sacrificed his only Son to bring me love, grace, mercy, truth, and salvation.

 Talk about an awesome Christmas present!!